988 and What It Means for Families of People with Serious Mental Illness

A SAMHSA-Sponsored Webinar And Roundtable Discussion

988*, the new three-digit number for mental health and suicidal crises, is now available nationwide. 988 is poised to change the way communities respond to people in crisis, connecting individuals to trained crisis counselors that can provide de-escalation and mental health intervention services by phone. This new number holds lots of promise, but what does this change mean for families of people with serious mental illness?

Watch the webinar recording to hear from experts about the national rollout of 988, and how families and people with serious mental illness are involved. Learn from advocates working in two different states about what is going right and where efforts are coming up against challenges. Finally, hear how your family can prepare to use 988 when it becomes available, with practical tips for crisis planning.

After watching the recording, you will:

1. Know what is happening nationally with the rollout of 988 and how the peer and family perspective is being represented.
2. Learn from two state examples of how the peer and family perspective is being brought into discussions
3. Learn how individuals and their families can incorporate 988 in planning a possible mental health crisis

Watch this roundtable discussion focused on 988 and what it means for families. The roundtable includes the presenters asking common questions that were submitted from the audience

Presenters

Stephanie Pasternak serves as the Director of State Affairs for NAMI. Stephanie leads NAMI’s state legislative work by identifying key state policy opportunities and trends and supports NAMI State Organizations (NSOs) in their state-level policy efforts. Prior to her work at NAMI, Stephanie served as the Policy and Advocacy Associate at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, where she worked on federal policies dedicated to expanding and improving community-based mental health and addiction treatment. Stephanie is a graduate of The Ohio State University, where she earned a B.A. in political science and a Master of Public Administration (MPA).

Joy Hogge, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Families as Allies in Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. Hogge has an extensive background in the development, implementation, and assessment of community-based services for children with behavioral health challenges and their families. Dr. Hogge has broad experience in engaging and collaborating with all stakeholders, including families and youth, in every phase of planning, treatment and evaluation at service-delivery, program and policy levels. Dr. Hogge currently oversees competitively funded projects with the State Departments of Mental Health, Health and Human Services as well as the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the Kellogg Foundation and the SAMHSA that provide direct support to families as well as an array of training and technical assistance in family-driven practice to policy makers and those providing direct support to families in different child-serving systems.

Chris Bouneff is executive director of the Oregon chapter of NAMI. Chris oversees NAMI’s statewide public policy and education efforts, among his other duties. Chris previously served as board president of NAMI Oregon and was active in public policy issues, including NAMI Oregon’s successful campaign to win mental health and addiction insurance parity in the Oregon Legislature.

Prior to his current position with NAMI Oregon, Chris served as director of marketing and development for De Paul Treatment Centers (now Fora Health), an addiction treatment provider for adults, youth and families located in Portland. Chris has spent a career in communications, marketing and advocacy with various agencies, including Trillium Family Services, one of Oregon’s largest children’s mental health care providers. He also served in similar positions with the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and Boise State University. Prior to that, Chris worked as a reporter covering public policy and enterprise stories for various newspapers and magazines across the West.

Teri Brister, Ph.D., serves as the Chief Program Officer at NAMI. Dr. Brister is responsible for ensuring that all content created and disseminated by NAMI attains the highest possible standards of accuracy, relevance, value and academic rigor. She is the author of NAMI Basics and co-author of the NAMI Homefront program. Since July 2018 Dr. Brister has served as the SMI Patient and Family Engagement Expert for the APA SMI Adviser project. Prior to joining NAMI in 2005, Dr. Brister worked for twenty years in the community mental health system in Mississippi, working in both clinical and administrative roles, including Assistant Executive Director in two different centers. Dr. Brister received her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Jackson State University, and her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Counseling Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Mississippi.